Katie Greene | The Grand Rapids Press Dannelle Goddard, left, a layaway cashier, helps Jeremy Lucas as he looks through a box trying to remember what he and his wife bought their son for Christmas after paying off their layaway Monday, Dec. 12, at the Kmart on Plainfield Avenue Northeast in Grand Rapids. The layaway-paying Secret Santa Craze that began in Grand Rapids has quickly spread across the country.

Call it the Christmas story that keeps on inspiring more giving. The Secret Santa trend of paying off strangers' Kmart layaway accounts continues to spread across the country.

"The phenomenon apparently began three weeks ago when a woman paid off three layaway charges at a Grand Rapids, Mich., Kmart," the national publication reported. "Media coverage prompted a slew of copycat givers."

These copy cat acts of kindness have taken place at other retailers beyond Kmart including a Wal-Mart store in Alabama where a man spent $11,000 paying off 75 layaway items, according to the story.